Sometimes, you have to take the bad with the good, and that was certainly the case for the Single-A Hickory Crawdads on Friday night in their game against the Charleston RiverDogs.
Entering the bottom of the eighth inning, it looked like they were headed toward perfection. But then a bloop that was first a hit, then overturned to an error, helped them achieve a milestone -- albeit not with the intended result on the scoreboard. Hickory dropped the game 1-0 while recording eight no-hit innings at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.
Twelve MiLB teams since 2005 have thrown at least seven-inning no-hitters and have lost, most recently the Rocket City Trash Pandas, who allowed seven runs on no hits in a strange 7-5 defeat to the Chattanooga Lookouts on April 8, 2023. If you up the innings requirement to at least eight frames and a loss, the Crawdads' feat becomes the first in affiliate ball since the Tulsa Drillers on April 14, 2019.
The last MLB team to allow no hits in a full contest and lose was the Cincinnati Reds in 2022. Then-rookie Hunter Greene twirled seven dominant innings before allowing two walks in the eighth. Reliever Art Warren came in and loaded the bases with another walk before a fielder’s choice ultimately gave the Pirates a win.
Lefty Mason Molina started the game for the Crawdads and cruised through his six innings of work, going 18 up and 18 down while striking out five in the process. He was relieved by Michael Valverde, who posted his own clean inning to keep the perfect game alive going into the eighth. With the Crawdads still scoreless themselves, Jake Jekielek took the ball and had an early 0-2 count on Nathan Flewelling to leadoff the frame. His next swing produced the fateful pop fly.
As soon as the ball hit the grass, all eyes turned to the scoreboard, awaiting the verdict. It was ruled a hit, ending the perfect game and no-hitter in one fell swoop. With the wind out of the Crawdads’ collective sails, a forceout, followed by a stolen base and a hit by pitch, put runners on first and second with one out.
The game had taken a different shape when suddenly the original ruling was overturned, and an error was assigned to Martin. The no-hitter had been resurrected, but a walk and a sacrifice fly pushed a Charleston run across the plate.
Despite the loss, the no-hitter marked a major milestone as Hickory’s fifth in franchise history and first since 2022.